Geography of Honda Point[edit]

The area of Honda Point—Point Pedernales is extremely treacherous for central California mariners, as it features a series of rocky outcroppings, collectively known as Woodbury Rocks by locals (one of which is today named Destroyer Rock on navigational charts). Called the Devil's Jaw, the area has been a navigational hazard since the Spanish explorers first came in the 16th century. It is also near the entrance to the sometimes treacherous Santa Barbara Channel, a popular shipping shortcut for vessels going to and from the ports of southern California. The channel is 12 to 25 miles (19 to 40 km) wide between the coast and the Channel Islands. The problem with the entrance to the channel is that it is one of the windiest places for mariners to pass through on the west coast. Winds and waves are often so severe that vessels choose to ride out the storms at the San Miguel Island's small harbor. Waves up to 30 feet (9.1 m) high have frequently forced the closure of the small harbors at Santa Barbara, Ventura, Port Hueneme and Oxnard.

The entrance to the channel acts like a vortex, sucking the winds and waves of Pacific storm systems into the passage. The most dangerous area is from Point Pedernales eastward, along the stretch of south-facing coast (much of which is now part of Vandenberg Air Force Base's Western Launch and Test Range), to Gaviota Creek, where U.S. Highway 101 meets the coast from the Santa Ynez Valley. Sea vessels can be blown ashore, or with the dense fog that is common on the California coast, ships can simply run aground when they lose track of their location.

The incident[edit]

The fourteen ships of Destroyer Squadron 11 (DESRON 11) made their way south from San Francisco Bay to San Diego Bay in the late summer of 1923. The squadron was led by CommodoreEdward H. Watson, on the flagship destroyer USS Delphy. All were Clemson-class destroyers, less than five years old. The ships turned east to course 095, supposedly heading into the Santa Barbara Channel, at 21:00. The ships were navigating by dead reckoning, estimating their positions by their headings and speeds, as measured by propeller revolutions per minute. At that time radio navigation aids were new and not completely trusted. The USS Delphy was equipped with a radio navigation receiver, but her navigator and captain ignored its indicated bearings, believing them to be erroneous. No effort was made to take soundings of water depth. These operations were not performed because of the necessity to slow the ships down to take measurements. The ships were performing an exercise that simulated wartime conditions, hence the decision was made not to slow down. In this case, the dead reckoning was wrong, and the mistakes were fatal. Despite the heavy fog, Commodore Watson ordered all ships to travel in close formation and, turning too soon, went aground. Six others followed and sank. Two ships whose captains disobeyed the close-formation order survived, although they also hit the rocks.[4]

Earlier the same day, the mail steamship SS Cuba ran aground nearby. Some attributed these incidents in the Santa Barbara Channel to unusual currents caused by the great Tokyo earthquake of the previous week.

Navigational errors[edit]

The fourteen Clemson-class destroyers of Destroyer Squadron Eleven were to follow the flagship USS Delphy in column formation from San Francisco Bay, through the Santa Barbara Channel, and finally to San Diego. Destroyer Squadron Eleven was on a twenty-four hour exercise from northern California to southern California.[5] The flagship was responsible for navigation. As the USS Delphy steamed along the coastline, poor visibility meant the navigators had to go by the age-old technique of dead reckoning. They had to estimate their position based on their speed and heading. The navigators aboard USS Delphy did have radio direction finding (RDF), which transmitted their bearings from a station at Point Arguello. However, RDF was new and was dismissed as unreliable. Based solely on dead reckoning, Captain Watson ordered the fleet to turn east into the Santa Barbara Channel. However, the Delphy was actually several miles northeast of where they thought they were. This error caused the ships to run aground on Honda Point.[6]

Ocean conditions[edit]

The main cause of the navigational errors experienced by the crew of the USS Delphy can be attributed to the earthquake in Japan and the underestimation of the resulting ocean conditions. On September 1, 1923, seven days before the disaster, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred in Japan. As a result of this earthquake, unusually large swells and strong currents arose off the coast of California and remained for a number of days.[7] Before Destroyer Squadron Eleven even reached Honda Point, a number of ships had encountered navigational problems as a result of the unusual currents.

As DESRON 11 began their exercise run down the California coast, they made their way through these swells and currents. While the squadron was traveling through these swells and currents, their estimations of speed and bearing used for dead reckoning were being affected. The navigators aboard the lead ship USS Delphy did not take into account the effects of the strong currents and large swells in their estimations. Since the navigators in the lead ship USS Delphy did not account for the current and swells in their estimations, the entire squadron was off course and positioned near the treacherous coastline of Honda Point instead of the open ocean of the Santa Barbara Channel. Coupled with darkness and thick fog, the swells and currents caused by the earthquake in Japan made accurate navigation nearly impossible for the USS Delphy. The geography of Honda Point, which is completely exposed to wind and waves, created an extremely deadly environment once the unusually strong swells and currents were added to the coastline.

Once the error in navigation occurred, the weather conditions and ocean conditions sealed the fate of the squadron. The weather surrounding Honda Point at the time of the disaster was windy and foggy while the geography of the area and the earthquake in Japan created strong counter-currents and swells that forced the ships into the rocks once they entered the area.[6]

Ships involved[edit]

USS S. P. Lee (DD-310) prior to grounding

USS Woodbury on beach

USS Chauncey

The lost ships were:

USS Delphy (DD-261) was the flagship in the column. She ran aground on the shore at 20 knots (37 km/h). After running aground, she sounded her siren. The siren alerted some of the later ships in the column, helping them avoid the tragedy. Three men died. Eugene Dooman, a State Department expert on Japan, was aboard as a guest of Captain Watson, whom he had met in Japan.

USS S. P. Lee (DD-310) was following a few hundred yards behind. She saw the Delphy suddenly stop, and turned to port (left) in response. As a result, she ran aground on the coast.

USS Young (DD-312) made no move to turn. She tore her hull open on submerged rocks, and the inrush of water capsized her onto her starboard side. Twenty men died.

Rescue efforts[edit]

Once the accident occurred, rescue attempts promptly followed. Local ranchers, who were alerted by the commotion caused in the disaster, rigged up breeches buoys from the surrounding cliff tops and lowered them down to the ships that had run aground. Fishermen nearby that had seen the tragedy picked up members of the crew from USS Fuller and USS Woodbury. The crew aboard the capsizedYoung was able to climb to safety on the nearby USS Chauncey via a lifeline.[5] The four destroyers in Destroyer Squadron Eleven that were able to avoid running aground at Honda Point were also able to contribute to rescue efforts by picking up sailors that had been thrown into the water and by assisting those that were stuck aboard the wreckage of other ships.[7] After the disaster, the government did not attempt to salvage any of the wrecks at Honda Point due to the nature of the damage each ship sustained. The wrecks themselves, along with the equipment that remained on them, were sold to a scrap merchant for a total of $1,035.[5] She, and her wrecked sister ships, were still not moved by late August 1929 for they may be clearly seen in film footage taken from the German airshipGraf Zeppelin as she headed towards Los Angeles on her circumnavigation of the globe; the film footage is used in the documentary film Farewell (2009).

Court martial[edit]

The Navy court ruled that the disaster was the fault of the fleet commander and the flagship's navigators. They assigned blame to the captain of each ship, following the tradition that a captain's first responsibility is to his own ship, even when in formation. Eleven officers involved would be brought before general courts-martial on the charges of negligence and culpable inefficiency to perform one’s duty.[7] This was the largest single group of officers ever court-martialed in the U.S. Navy's history. The court martial ruled that the events of the Honda Point Disaster were "directly attributable to bad errors and faulty navigation" by Captain Watson.[3] Watson was stripped of his seniority, and three other officers were admonished. Those officers who were court-martialed were all acquitted.[5] Captain Watson, who had been defended by Admiral Thomas Tingey Craven,[8] was commended by his peers and the government for assuming full responsibility of the disaster at Honda Point. He could have tried to blame a variety of factors for the disaster, but instead he set a great example for those others by allowing the responsibility to be placed entirely on his shoulders.[3]

Honda Point today[edit]

Honda Point, also called Point Pedernales, is located on the seacoast of Vandenberg Air Force Base, near the city of Lompoc, California. Its land has been part of the air force base for over six decades. There is a plaque and a memorial of the shipwrecks at the site. The memorial includes a ship's bell from the Chauncey. A propeller and a propeller shaft from the Delphy is on display outside the Veterans' Memorial Building, in Lompoc, California.

Photograph of the plaque commemorating the US Navy Honda Point Disaster of September 8, 1923.